The Cape Girardeau art scene has been flourishing in a big way in the past few years, and last spring it became even more expansive with the debut of Catapult Creative House. Catapult is an art hub consisting of student artwork, fashion, exhibitions, state-of-the-art work stations and much more. It's a product of the Missouri Innovation Center.

I spoke with Leah Powers, operations manager of Catapult, and Linda Schreiber, a graduate assistant, to find out more about Catapult and what it has to offer.

Q: How has participation and engagement been since Catapult's launch last May?

Leah: Now that students are back for the semester, we have hit the ground running. Our traffic has more than doubled, events have picked up and traffic is increasing as more students and community members find out about us.

Linda: It has been an experience! We have been on campus talking with students, hosting exhibitions and participating in downtown Cape's First Fridays.

Catapult is at 612 Broadway in Cape Girardeau. (Photo submitted by Southeast Missouri State University)

Q: Could you explain to me exactly what Catapult is and what its purpose is?

Leah: We're teaching students how to become entrepreneurs through experiential learning. We have a retail shop run by fashion merchandising students, a beverage bar run by hospitality management students, and a gallery and letterpress run by art students. We also have art, sewing and interior design studios, a spray paint room, a photography booth, computers and meeting spaces.

Linda: We have a technology lab with four Macs and two Windows computers. We also have a conference room and classroom which students, organizations and businesses can rent.

Q: Give me an example of how a student can utilize the incubator?

Linda: One of our fashion students participated in a fashion show in Atlanta. He has a sewing studio upstairs which he to design and create each garment. He later hosted his own fashion show at Southeast on Oct. 16.

The retail shop at Catapult Creative House is stocked with holiday gifts and decor. (Photo submitted by Southeast Missouri State University)

Q: Tell us about the retail space. What makes it special?

Leah: It sells items made by students at the university and by Missouri vendors. Students and community vendors can pitch their products to the student store manager and faculty adviser, who would then develop a purchase order, much like any buyer going to market.

Q: Is there anything else Catapult has to offer? I can't imagine more.

Linda: We brew St. Louis' own Kaldi's Coffee, which is very high quality at a low cost. The students really love it, especially since we have many students from St. Louis.

Leah: Our hospitality management students also make and sell baked goods, and I'll say the banana nut bread is my favorite.

Check out Catapult. You definitely will not be disappointed, and it's just in time for the holiday season -- another reason to buy local, buy Missouri and Buy the River. Catapult is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.